Faisal Shahzad belonged to the Taliban extremist entity. The Taliban entity is an insurgent group that operates regionally by perpetuating violent acts to promote religious extremism. They also operate transnationally by sponsoring lone attackers as in the Times Square bombing attempt that was masterminded by Faisal Shahzad. Taliban are non-state actors whose ideologies of Jihad are informed by a radical interpretation of Islam that entails waging war against people who do not profess the Islamic faith (Bergen, 2016). As a domestic Taliban actor, Faisal Shahzad was affiliated to Salafi, Sunni, Pashtun, Wahhabi, and Deobandi factions.
Faisal Shahzad Grievance
Faisal Shahzad belonged to the Taliban extremist entity. The Taliban extremists is an insurgent group that operates regionally by perpetuating violent acts to promote religious extremism. They also operate transnationally by sponsoring lone attackers as in the Times Square bombing attempt that was masterminded by Faisal Shahzad. Taliban are non-state actors whose ideologies of Jihad are informed by a radical interpretation of Islam that entails waging war against people who do not profess the Islamic faith (Bergen, 2016). As a domestic Taliban actor, Faisal Shahzad was affiliated to Salafi, Sunni, Pashtun, Wahhabi, and Deobandi factions (Scott, 2010).
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How Faisal Shahzad Draw to the Cause
Faisal Shahzad is a naturalized US citizen who moved into the country from Pakistan in 1998. He used his car to bomb the Times Square, Manhattan in May 2010, but the police foiled his terrorist attempt. Information attributed to the US government sources indicates that Faisal underwent Taliban training in Pakistan ( Andrea, Sabrina & Anne, 2010). He used to follow through the radical Al Qaeda sermons that Anwar al-Alwaki – a cleric - used to give to the masses in the Arabian Peninsula.
US government sources report that Faisal made a trip to Pakistan just after he had acquired US citizenship ( William, Mark, & Peter, 2010 ). During this time, he trained with Al Qaeda militants for at least two months in areas around Waziristan, Pakistan. It is during this period that Faisal learned to build detonator and explosives before moving back to the US in February 2010. The Al Qaeda whom he had trained within the Arabian Peninsula started sending payments to Faisal to the tune of $12000 using the hawala payment system ( William, Mark, & Peter, 2010 ). This money went into buying a car and bomb materials that Faisal planned to use in bombing the Times Square. He bought a gun safe, gasoline and fertilizer to use in making a car bomb (Scott, 2010).
The Process of Radicalization
The radicalization process for terrorists happens in staggered phases, where one changes from a law-abiding person to an extremist. One has to experience certain internal and external influences that will change him into a radical extremist. Faisal Shahzad got huge influence from extremist websites that carry strong religious bigotry that is laced with unfounded conspiracy theories (Scott, 2010). The main target group for these websites is young Muslims who stay in the US and other Western nations.
In Faisal's quest to undertake terrorist activities, he checked around Pakistan to find Al Qaeda militia training camps. Some of the possible reasons that could have driven Faisal into religious radicalism include economic distress. He had a strong influence that surpassed his grievance ( Andrea, Sabrina & Anne, 2010). Faisal Shahzad must also have received the suggestion to bomb the Times Square from the Al Qaeda militants. The Al Qaeda militant trainers understood the symbolic importance that the Times Square building has around New York.
Often, people may experience the same difficult circumstances and become radical, but only a portion of them transition into extremist terrorism. Terrorist radicalization happens as a chance process. The specific people that one meets in their transition arc may push them fast into radicalization. For instance, Faisal interacted with the Al Awlaki cleric in online platforms and finally developed an urge to join the radical terrorist groups (Kaplan, 2009). He established contact with Al Qaeda militant trainers and soon acquired the necessary bomb-making skills that would aid him in staging a bombing attack at Times Square (Dean, Bell & Newman, 2012).
Faisal was not the common self-radicalized with a fierce determination to sacrifice his life through suicide bombing. Instead, he had some restraint as evident in his decision to set up a car bomb and move away to watch it blow up. He also had the means to actualize his terrorist commitment after receiving some $12000 from the Al Qaeda network. Faisal's resolve was further hardened when he met the Waziritan militant trainers who taught him how to make bombs ( Andrea, Sabrina & Anne, 2010). He underwent a radical social learning process that was catalyzed by religious, political and social factors.
At the first stage, Faisal Shahzad gained awareness of the radical Taliban ideology from extremist websites. In the second stage, the knowledge generated interest in Faisal to seek out other Al Qaeda training camps and learn more about the Taliban cause. In the third stage, Faisal began to accept the values propagated by Waziristan militant trainers ( Andrea, Sabrina & Anne, 2010).
In this third stage, Faisal gained a strong belief in the radical messages about some nations conspiring against people who profess the Islamic faith. This is how he came to learn of the possibility of gaining citizenship in the US through naturalization for purposes of staging a terror attack ( Andrea, Sabrina & Anne, 2010). In the fourth stage, Faisal Shahzad took action to commit violent terror in the US by buying explosives to build a car bomb. He even went and set off the car bomb with the parking lot at the Times Square building.
The extremist radicalization process for Faisal Shahzad may also be viewed through the “ Staircase to Terrorism ” model. This model has six steps where the individual transforms through specific psychological processes ( William, Mark & Peter, 2010 ). In the first step, the individual interprets the material conditions he experiences in his life. Faisal Shahzad was living under economic distress that made him identify with the perception of unfair treatment propagated by Al al-Awlaki in extremist websites. The second step involves conceiving opinions that would help the person to fight those agents he perceives are causing his unfair treatment.
Faisal Shahzad decided to look for Waziritan militant trainers to develop hardened opinions against the perceived enemy. The third step involves displacing aggression, where the individual expresses the anger against the enemy towards other people. Faisal Shahzad attended the rigorous military training as a way to displace the aggression he had developed against the “ enemies of Islam. ” The fourth step involves moral engagement, where the individual gets convinced that they are facing unfair treatment from certain societal groups ( Andrea, Sabrina & Anne, 2010).
Faisal Shahzad was made to believe that the US nation was an enemy of Muslims. That conviction about the US nation pushed him to strategize on how he could acquire US citizenship. In the fifth step, the individual develops solid thoughts about their terrorist intentions. They find ways to justify the legitimacy of their quest for terrorism. Faisal Shahzad identified with the quest for jihad that was being fronted by his Waziristan militant trainers (Bergen, 2016). His commitment to Jihad made him accept money sent to him to finance terrorist acts.
In the sixth step, the individual commits the actual terrorist act. Faisal Shahzad went ahead to acquire bomb-making materials and a car for executing the terrorist act ( Andrea, Sabrina & Anne, 2010). He made a car bomb and went to set it up the parking lot at the Times Square building. Fortunately, Faisal Shahzad set the wrong time in the bomb timer and missed the chance to bomb the symbolic Times Square building.
The Result of the Extremism and how the Case Ended
On the day of the attack on May 1, 2010, Faisal drove into the parking lot of the Times Square building close to 7 th Avenue and 45 th Street. After parking his car full of explosives, he got out and walked away for some meters. He made a mistake of setting the bomb ’ s timer to go off at 07:00 instead of 19:00, foiling the explosion he was waiting for. Faisal decided to go home dejected after his terrorist plan failed. Later some street vendor operating near the building alerted the police about some smoke he had seen in the back vents. This is how the police got to learn of the foiled bombing attempt ( Andrea, Sabrina & Anne, 2010). Within two days, Shahzad took a flight back to Dubai through the John F. Kennedy (JFK) International Airport, but FBI agents arrested him before the flight could take off.
The Al Qaeda whom Faisal had trained within the Arabian Peninsula had lured him into the extremist group through propaganda. Anwar al-Awlaki delivered radical online lectures that eventually moved Faisal to join the extremist Taliban movement (Kaplan, 2009). The Al Qaeda then used the brave terrorist attempt by Faisal Shahzad to escalate its online propaganda videos (Scott, (2010). The videos captured some of his early life moments when Faisal still lived with the Al Qaeda group in his native Pakistan community.
The propaganda video exposed the terrorist mindset of Faisal. It captured him saying that Muslims should attack the US and perpetuate targeted war to all people who were against Islam. This message was juxtaposed with the Western media clips reporting about the Times Square attack ( Andrea, Sabrina & Anne, 2010). When Faisal Shahzad was charged in court by US prosecutors on some 10 counts of attempting international terrorism and using a weapon of mass destruction, he pleaded guilty. The jury proceeded to give him a life sentence on October 5, 2010.
Several years after Shahzad got jailed for the car-bombing attempt in Times Square, his life details still match the common identity of terrorists ( William, Mark & Peter, 2010 ). It is clear that Shahzad had developed strong anger from his struggles that was parallel to the hate he harbored against his newly adopted country- the US. Other personal details indicate that Shahzad fell victim to foreclosure that saw him lose his home in the previous year ( William, Mark & Peter, 2010 ). His mannerisms also showed strong signs of religious extremism and alienation.
Conclusion
The radicalization of terrorists happens in a staggered process as evident in the life profile of Faisal Shahzad. Shahzad had developed strong militancy long before he staged the car bombing attack on Times Square building. Media interviews with government and his teenage friends back in Pakistan indicate that he had grown with a profound sense of militancy from a young age He only found an opportunity to vent it out when he disagreed with the stringent foreign policy that the US adopted after the unfortunate terrorist events of September 11, 2001. Most immigrant Pakistani youth are also agile, but Shahzad proved to be unique because he had other strong underlying emotions of dissent.
References
Andrea E., Sabrina T., & Anne B. (2010, May 16). For Times Sq. suspect, long roots of discontent. The New York Times . Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/16/nyregion/16suspect.html
Bergen, P. (2016). The United States of Jihad: Investigating America’s homegrown terrorists . New York: Crown Publishers.
Dean, G., Bell, P., & Newman, J. (2012). The dark side of social media: Review of online terrorism. Pakistan Journal of Criminology , 3/4(4/1), 191-210. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy1.apus.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=i3h&AN=89690880&site=ehostlive&scope=site
Kaplan, E. (2009). How do terrorist organizations use the Internet? Retrieved from http://www.cfr.org/terrorism-and-technology/terrorists-internet/p10005
Scott A. (2010, May 7). Times Square bomber: Another of the dangerous disillusioned. The Guardian . Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/may/07/times-square-bomb-analysis
William K. R., Mark M., & Peter B. (2010, May 4). Arrest made in Times Square bomb case. The New York Times . Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/04/nyregion/04bomb.html
